Maria Branyas, world's oldest person, dies in Spain at 117

MADRID (Reuters) - Maria Branyas, who was the world's oldest person, has died peacefully in a Spanish nursing home at the age of 117, according to her account on the X platform and a spokesperson at the home on Tuesday.

"Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain," her official X account said, and a spokesperson at the nursing home confirmed the news without providing details.

Branyas had suggested that her demise was imminent on Monday on X, saying: "I feel weak. The time is coming. Don't cry, I don't like tears... You know me, wherever I go, I will be happy."

Her X account is handled by her daughter.

She had turned 117 on March 4, according to Guinness World Records, and had become the oldest person in the world in January 2023.

Born in San Francisco, California, in 1907, she moved with her Spanish family back to the northeastern region of Catalonia when she was seven.

She spent the rest of her life there, living through the 1936-39 civil war and two pandemics a century apart - the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1931, she married Catalan doctor Joan Moret, with whom she had three children.

Her husband passed away in 1976 and she also outlived her son, August, who died in a tractor accident at the age of 86, Guinness World Records said on its website.

Branyas allowed scientists to study her exceptional longevity, which she attributed to luck, good genetics and "order, tranquillity, good connections with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people," according to Guinness.

When she reached 117, Branyas was the 12th oldest verified person in history. The oldest ever was Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Catherine Macdonald; editing by Charlie Devereux and Bernadette Baum)